Book Review: Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay….I thought King of Scars would break me, because it did. But RULE OF WOLVES...good lord that book should come with a warning: Let’s break Brittany in half so much, that once we get to that part where Zoya transforms into a dragon, that’s when Brittany’s Skyrim-senses start to tingle. Because good lord, this book-though it took me half a month to finish it, was so good that I had to take a night off from reading anything else, to keep my mind clear before I sit down and do this book review. Like before, I’m going to break this down by the multiple POVs that showed up:

Nikolai: Still the King of Ravka. Still has the demon inside him. Still a sly son of a bitch. I loved the fact that throughout the book he kept Ravka in mind, even when they were about to go to war with Fjerda. He didn’t even marry Princess Ehri, which I thought would happen in the story. But then, as the story went on, he fell in love with Zoya that he gave up his throne for her-gave up his throne-for her, and is going to be next to her forever, which I think I loved the most about Nikolai’s character development throughout this book. He moved up to being one of my favorite characters of all time and I love him so much.

Zoya: ALL HAIL QUEEN ZOYA NAZYALENSKY, QUEEN OF RAVKA AND DRAGON QUEEN. Holy shit Zoya’s storyline just blew me away. Blew me the fuck away. Chef’s kiss. She went from soldier of the first army, a summoner/squaller and commander of Ravka’s first and second army, and then Saint...WHEN SHE TURNED INTO A DRAGON. A full-blown, holy moly there’s a huge dragon in the sky dragon. That for me was the best part of the story, because after what happened in King of Scars, I got worried for Zoya. Like, honestly worried. But then, as I kept reading and taking notes, you realize that Zoya is a caring woman, and yes she’s half-Suli (I think, please correct me if I’m wrong), but honestly...becoming queen at the end was beautiful. Just beautiful. I loved it, so, so much.

The Darkling/Aleksander Morozova: I know, I know-daddy Darkling is back. I was shocked when he came back, and honestly, like everyone else, I thought he would come back and be civil. But NO. What did he do (dammit, Aleksander)? He kept asking for Alina, and he got her alone in a room...to stab her in the palm so he could get his power back. As if he was saying, “Jokes on you, bitch, I've had my powers this whole time.” Then, as Yuri, he’s getting all of his followers together to GO TO THE BATTLEFIELD so he can put on one big show. Well he didn’t-he helped Nikolai with his demon, and then turned around and cried out, “Sankta Zoya!”. Then he sacrificed himself when they finally caught him again, and he got stabbed in the heart like Nikolai did, and got sucked in the tree.

Nina Zenik: Nina had grown into a character and my favorite human being right now. Still masquerading as Mila Jandersdat, she has integrated herself into the Brum household. Even though she hates Jarl Brum, commander of the druskelle and Hanne, her girlfriend’s father. She had a mission to get close to the Little Lantsov, Demidov, and to get the letters of Queen Tatiana from Fjeda’s clutches. Well, she didn’t-she found instead Magnus Opjer, Nikolai’s real father, locked up behind bars in Jarl Brum’s office. She didn’t get him out, per say, but she almost killed Joran after she found out that he killed her love, Matthias Helvar. Hanne stopped her, and it did worry me that she thought Hanne died on the boat, Levithan's something I can’t remember. The shocking thing throughout this whole entire thing was that Joran, JORAN, shot Jarl Brum, and Prince Rasmus was the one that actually died, and now she and Hanne/Rasmus will be king and queen of Fjerda.

And the appearance of the Crows made me smile hugely because GOD I missed them so much, though now Inej is a captain now (and Kaz misses her SO DAMNED MUCH.) I loved every bit of it and I want more.

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Book Review: Ruin and Rising (Grishaverse #3) by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book three.

Holy hell, I’m on book three.

And book three is slowly but surely killing me.

Why, you ask, is book three killing me?

Well one, Mal and Alina are currently with the Apparat, who, for the love of god, reminds me of Wormtail from Harry Potter, but worse, much, much worse, in the White Cathedral. The Apparat has been styling Alina as Sankta Alina and pretty much controlling her from the start, even when she didn’t have her powers. So one day Mal and the others decided to trick the Apparat and she got her powers back (yay) after she was tending to Genya’s eye (which thanks to Daddy Darkling….well...you know). Once Alina put the fear of the God back into him and told him to be in his rooms, she left the White Cathedral with her friends to try and find the firebird…

All except she can now call and see the Darkling now.

Through the bond they have.

Which shouldn’t have shocked me but it did as I read it.

And she kept it from her friends, even when Nikolai found them again on a new boat and traveled to get as far away as they can from the Darkling, only to find out that he really wanted Alina back. And he would do anything to get her back, even going to Keramazin to kill everyone she ever known, like Ana Kulya, telling her:

“I will strip away all that you know, all that your love, until you have no shelter but me.”

This quote will forever be in my mind, even as I write it down in my journal because it was that good of a line for a villain to say. And then on the boat when the Darkling found them and turned Nikolai into a monster….I turned to the left because I went OH NO MONSTER BOYFRIEND OH NO and then after that we found out something big. Really big.

One, is that Baghra is Morozova’s daughter (I felt like throughout the book we were focused on him and the Darkling) and...that Mal is the third amplifier for Alina. He’s the firebird.

And Alina is swearing up and down that she will never kill him because she loves him.

Which honestly, I’m going all the way to the ending, which sucked. So, so much.

I really didn’t want Alina to end up with Mal, I really didn’t. Yes he was the firebird, yes he did so many wonderful things throughout the story (like tracking) but...Mal is boring. So, so boring. I thought she would’ve at least chosen Nikolai or the Darkling (but that’s just me, I’ll choose the Darkling and me and him would be married without me even thinking about it, and I won’t have no regrets at all) but Mal? Boring old Mal? I don’t even see them being together, much less them having anything similar in common. But I mean, it was nice and all. They opened up a little orphanage and being all cute and a couple….BUT WHY THOUGH, LEIGH BARDUGO, WHY????

I wanted something else for them, this wasn’t it!!!!

But you know what, it’s all good, because I have the duolgy (got the first book,of it, King of Scars) and I pre ordered the new one, and I have the Book of the Saints, so maybe I can do a nice book marathon when Ruin of Wolves comes out (and I can’t wait for that, honestly).

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Book Review: Siege and Storm, a Grishaverse Novel by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book two of the Grishaverse, something I really wanted to read, and on top of that the cover of this book is really beautiful. I’ve missed these characters so much (also Daddy Darkling...I mean, that’s why I’m reading this book series, right? No? Is it just me? Yes? Alright…) And I really don’t want this book to end...I really, really don’t. Thank god for the third book and the other books, am I right?

I picked up this book again after reading an amazing fanfic called ‘Out of Time” by Destinies (it’s on A03...READ IT IT’S SO GOOD) and this book introduced me to my love and best boy Nikolai Lanstov, the youngest prince of the Lanstov royal family. He’s introduced as Strumhond as first when Mal and Alina first met him, and then once they returned to Os Alta and revealed himself, that’s when things started to go wonderfully.

For one, Alina and Mal are running from the Darkling, and he caught them and took them on Stumhond’s boat, where they ran away from the Darkling and went to the Fold, where Alina started to see the Darkling, and she wouldn’t even tell Mal or anyone about seeing the Darkling, as if he was real. This book also introduces Tamar and Toyla, two Grisha working under Strumhond/Nikolai and became her guards when they reached Os Alta and Alina decided that she was going to fight the Darkling, using the First Army to do it.

They also, in this story, find the second amplifier of Morozova, and they kept mentioning Sankta Ilya (to the point that I preordered the Lives of Saints book and I need to read his story) and how he has three amplifiers-something that is totally different from the ‘Grisha have one amplifier’ rule.The first one is Morozova’s Stag, second is the water dragon, and third is the firebird. Now this firebird sounds like a Phoenix, and Mal keeps dismissing it, saying that it doesn’t exist, and also I’ve realized that Alina’s a bit power hungry, now that she has the fetter and the collar. I think it’s because she wants to fight the Darkling and beat him, but I found that interesting that she’s power hungry to get all three.

BUT THE ENDING.

Holy moly.

The fight between Alina and the Darkling, and her pretty much taking his nichvo’ya and turning them around to the Darkling before she was torn from him and then they had to go the White Cathedral, where the Apparat and his followers were waiting for her. And when she rested and looked at the mirror...her hair is snow white, and...and she has no more magic.

Oh...no.

What will happen next in the next book? I don’t know, but I’m going to be reading the last book and i’m probably going to be sad afterwords once this book series is over.

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